OAKLAND, Calif. -- The Golden State Warriors have hired Mike Brown, the former head coach of the?Cleveland Cavaliers?and Los Angeles Lakers, as an assistant on coach Steve Kerrs staff.The Warriors announced Wednesday that Brown will replace Luke Walton, who left to become the Lakers coach.Brown has a 347-216 career record in eight seasons. He took the Cavaliers to the NBA Finals in 2007 and won Coach of the Year in 2008-09 after helping Cleveland win 66 games.Brown was also an assistant in San Antonio when Kerr played for the Spurs.Golden State also signed second-round pick Patrick McCaw. McCaw was selected 38th overall by Milwaukee in last months draft before the Warriors bought his rights for about $2.4 million.Randy Johnson Astros Jersey . Halladay signed a one-day contract with the Toronto Blue Jays on Monday that allowed the veteran right-hander to retire as a member of team with which he broke into the majors and spent the bulk of his distinguished 16-year career. Martin Maldonado Astros Jersey . Neymar curled home a free kick from just outside the area to put the 2014 World Cup host ahead in the 44th minute. Three minutes after the break, a simple through pass from Paulinho freed Oscar and the Chelsea star rounded goalkeeper Jung Sung-ryong to extend Brazils lead. https://www.cheapastros.com/853o-andy-pettitte-jersey-astros.html .com) - The Calgary Flames aim to bounce back from their first regulation home loss of the campaign on Friday night when they host a Detroit Red Wings club that they swept in three meetings a season ago. Aaron Sanchez Astros Jersey . General manager Jarmo Kekalainen told Aaron Portzline of The Columbus Dispatch on Friday that he wants to see Gaboriks contributions go beyond the scoresheet before considering a long-term deal for the soon-to-be unrestricted free agent. Mike Scott Astros Jersey . Marincin has played in two NHL games so far this season with two penalty minutes. The 21-year-old has three goals, four assists and a plus-5 rating in 24 games with the American Hockey Leagues Oklahoma City Barons this season.TORONTO -- Just about every Canadian kid of a certain vintage has a Wayne Gretzky spot memory: his 50th goal in 39 games, his first Stanley Cup, his trade from Edmonton to Los Angeles that broke our countrys collective heart. Somewhere, not so deep in the recesses of our now-adult brains, some moment in Gretzkys life and some moment in ours have been tied together like a knot.I was 7 years old in the summer of 1981. I went to a movie with some friends. My family did not have a lot of money, but I somehow managed to get a Mr. Big chocolate bar out of the deal.Inside the wrapper, there was a number for a contest. If Gretzky scored that same number of points the following season, you could mail in your wrapper and be entered into a drawing for a fabulous prize. In my head, that prize has become the sum of the known universe. It was probably an Oilers sweater.I opened my chocolate bar as carefully as Charlie Bucket, and I can picture it as clearly now as I could then. In stamped blue numbers, inside a little black box: 212.Now I need to impress upon you how gullible a child I was. I believed in everything. I am 42, and I still believe in magic. I believe that the human spirit can conduct electricity. I believe that love can be transmitted across space as surely as a satellite signal.But even back then, I didnt believe for a millisecond that a hockey player could score 212 points in a single season. I tossed my Mr. Big wrapper.Gretzky collected 92 goals and 120 assists that season. Later I had a pennant that commemorated that season, so I could look at those otherworldly totals whenever I turned my head toward that spot over my bed. Combined with that lost Mr. Big wrapper -- I still wonder if any dreamer out there kept his long enough to claim the prize -- those numbers made an impression on me that I carry to this day: Never underestimate greatness or our capacities for it.On Tuesday at the World Cup of Hockey, NHL commissioner Gary Bettman introduced Gretzky as the official ambassador for the leagues centennial. On Nov. 22, 1917, five men met at the Windsor Hotel in Montreal. Four days later, they founded the NHL. Beginning Jan. 1, 2017, the league will stage a yearlong celebration of its sometimes surprising longevity. Gretzky will prreside over it, less as the man he is than as the symbol he has become.ddddddddddddretzky hasnt been involved in hockey in any real capacity since his failed coaching tenure with the then-Phoenix Coyotes ended in 2009. The fallout of that franchises bankruptcy was ugly, with the league eventually cutting Gretzky a check for more than $7 million in unpaid salary in 2013. In his semi-exile since, Gretzky has been seen more often on golf courses, watching his son-in-law, Dustin Johnson, compete, than in hockey rinks.Now hes back. Bettman wasnt shy in his introductions. Entering this season, he said, 7,435 players have played at least one NHL game. Through all the years, hockey has elevated us, he said. One player in particular truly was transformational, a player who made the impossible commonplace on the ice and who off the ice transcended hockey and transcended sport.How has hockey lived without such a man, and how has he lived without it?Listen, a relaxed and well-looking Gretzky said. Ive always said this thousands of times: Its the greatest game in the world. Everything thats happened in my life is because of the National Hockey League and the game of hockey. So when the commissioner called me a couple of months ago and asked me if I wanted to be involved, I said, Absolutely.The 2017 Winter Classic will be in St. Louis. The All-Star Game will be in Los Angeles. Given his connection to those cities, Gretzky probably would have been at those events anyway. But to have him there in an official capacity, the face of the game once again, seems like a necessary correction. Its a great thrill for me, he said.For us too. Hockeys future, like all futures, is foggy. A questionable expansion to Las Vegas, the dearth of Stanley Cups for Canadian franchises, the less-than-grand success of this World Cup and the state of the international game -- each raises more questions than answers.Wayne Gretzky has never left our memories. In some ways, hes been here all along. But if hockey is going to find the solutions required to last another 100 years, it wont hurt to have the magician who made 212 the right answer around. ' ' '
